The present invention relates to computerized systems. In particular, the present invention relates to input devices for computerized systems.
Computerized systems receive input signals from input devices such as keyboards, mice, joysticks, game pads, touch pads, track balls, and headsets. These input devices create input signals using touch sensors, transducers, or switches. Switches are typically found in the buttons of mice, joysticks, and game pads, as well as in the keys of keyboards. Transducers are found in mice and track balls and create electrical signals based on the movement of balls in those devices. Transducers are also found in headsets where they convert speech signals into electrical signals. Touch sensors are found in touch pads and provide an electrical signal when the user contacts the touch pad that includes the location within the touch pad where contact was made.
Although it is desirable to increase the amount of information that an input device can provide to the computer, the number of transducers and switches that can be added to an input device is limited by the user""s ability to remember all of the functions that a particular transducer or switch performs. In. addition, the number of transducers and switches that can be added to an input device is limited by the average user""s dexterity and their physical ability to manipulate the added controls.
In a method of the present invention, a device message is generated indicating that a touch sensor on an input device has been touched without indicating what location on the touch sensor has been touched. The device message is routed to an application and instructions within the application are executed based on the device message.
Under various embodiments, the executed instructions perform a number of functions including removing a displayed screen saver, creating animation around a displayed cursor, spinning a disc drive, initiating a speech recognition program, locating a cursor in a hypertext link and collecting user profile information.
Under further embodiments of the invention a plurality of device messages are generated that each indicate which of a plurality of respective touch sensors have been touched. The multiple device messages are used by various embodiments to perform a number of functions including determining with which hand the user holds the input device, adjusting the size of an ink trail left by a cursor, adjusting the speed at which the cursor moves across the screen, paging through documents, scrolling through documents, and navigating through a pie menu.
In further embodiments of the invention a device message is generated when a user releases a touch sensor on an input device. The device message is routed to an application, which executes instructions based on the message. These instructions perform a variety of functions in the various embodiments of the invention. For example, the instructions can cause items such as cursors, tool tips, and tool bars to disappear when the user is not touching the input device. The instructions can also suppress audio signals when the user is not touching the input device.